Barbecue Buyers Guide: bye bye barbie

by David Zimmer

They say that the first step to recovery is to admit that you have a problem so, okay, I’ll say it: I have a thing for barbecues. Big or small, from simple propane portables to pit smokers the size of a steam locomotive, I love them all and covet those of my neighbours (not a sin by the way; I checked). Truth be told, I don’t want to reform, and every year a fat-flaring battle between id and superego takes place as I look longingly at yet another grill to round out my current collection of six barbecues – down by one after I had to retire an old stalwart last year. Some of my so-called friends, barbecue infidels all, accuse me of excess, obsessive mania, and general cupidity towards anything barbecue-related. I say: What’s wrong with that? Lots of people collect commemorative teaspoons from all the provincial capitalsand you don’t see them being pilloried. Secretly, the only way I get by with just six measly grills is by cooking occasionally for a cottage-country catering outfit. This lets me enjoy other people’s barbecues on a regular basis, from huge stainless-steel rental units piled with planked salmon and whole beef tenderloins to the tiniest cottage grill turned to the task of cranking out an intimate dinner for 12. I survive my obsession, barely, by using other people’s gear. Sometimes, I work with an ultra-expensive barbecue that performs miserably. On other occasions, a more modest grill will turn out to be a real champ.

I have learned a few things. One is that most cottagers have gas barbecues. The other is that people have trouble separating the steak from the sizzle when they’re shopping for a gas grill. With so many brand names and super-duper proprietary “cooking systems” to choose from, it’s often hard to get past the bafflegab to find the few qualities that are really important to the only thing that counts: the food you cook on your grill. To further compound things, gas barbecues today are becoming more complex and feature loaded. “A grill has become simultaneously a status symbol and a piece of patio sculpture,” says celebrated cookbook author, TV host, and barbecue samurai Steven Raichlen.  “I’m not saying those are bad things, it’s just sort of part of the equation.” It is possible to spend $9,000 on a gas barbecue and, if your budget permits, go right ahead. But no matter how much money you spend, especially in the middle ground where most cottagers dwell, buying a gas barbecue can be a crapshoot if you don’t know what core features are essential to successful grilling.

Fahrenheit or Celsius, it’s got to be hot

Chef Ted Reader, cookbook author, barbecue bon vivant, and host of the King of the Q television show, knows what he wants in a gas barbecue. “I want a grill that’s going to give me a lot of heat so when I sear a steak, I seal in the juices and caramelize those juices and fat to produce flavour,” he says. “That doesn’t mean I always have to cook on high heat but when I want to sear meat, I want a serious amount of heat coming through a grill.” Raichlen calls it “power,” the ability to get really hot for true grilling and searing. “Unfortunately, that’s not quite as simple as talking about how many BTUs a grill puts out because it’s really about how well the grill is designed.”

The ancients felt they could divine the future by examining animal entrails. Similarly, the only way to get a glimpse of your grilling future is to delve deep into the heart of a barbecue – to take it apart and get a look at its guts. Inside, you’ll find the cooking grates, then beneath them some form of heat diffuser. Beneath this diffuser lies the burner. The burner makes the heat, the diffuser absorbs the heat, spreads it around, and keeps fat, juices, and food acids from falling on the burner, and the cooking grates deliver the heat to the meat. A simple system, but one that can very often go wrong, depending on the design of all three components.

“The strength of every barbecue is the burner,” explains Joel Waisglass, owner of Sobie’s Barbecues & Appliance Service in Toronto. “It is probably the most important thing to look at when you’re purchasing a gas grill.” A good burner is defined as much by its shape and size as the specific materials used to make it. “With any grill you need at least two burners, ideally three or four, so you can do indirect grilling and have a finer control of the temperature,” says Raichlen. Searing food directly over high heat, then moving it off to the side over an unlit burner to cook using convection is a staple in the barbecue repertoire. Some manufacturers attain this ability using one large burner split down the middle for separate control, while others use a number of burners, sometimes tube-shaped, to split the grill into distinctly controlled zones of heat. Either system can work well, as long as the layout spreads a lot of heat evenly underneath the diffuser. Duff Dixon, the owner of Ontario Gas BBQ in Concord, Ont., says the only way consumers can learn about this is to look at a lot of barbecues. It will soon become obvious that a single, tiny, oval-shaped burner is not going to perform as well as an H-shape or a figure-eight burner. “The better the distribution of flame, the better the performance is going to be,” Dixon explains. “If it’s a cheap burner with a poor layout under the cooking surface, even a layman can see that flame pattern is not going to heat the surface effectively.”

The material used to make a burner will affect its performance and longevity. At the bottom end, you’ll find aluminized steel burners, which are prone to corrosion and heat fatigue and, according to Dixon, “if you get a year out of them you’re doing well.” He’s been selling gas barbecues for 21 years and has a low opinion of aluminized steel. “It’s something certain manufacturers used for a while, and I think they realized it was a big booboo after all the aggravation they caused their customers.” The moral? Avoid aluminized steel burners like the plague.

Other common burner choices include cast iron and stainless steel. Cast-iron burners are a rare animal these days, but owners of old-time grills with cast burners praise their longevity. According to Dixon, however, cast-iron burners might be fine for the furnace in your house but, in an outdoor environment where they are exposed to moisture, the tiny ports that define the flame soon deform from corrosion. “Cast-iron burners are heavy and they have tremendous sex appeal in a brochure, but even though some last a long time, their performance hasn’t been the same since year two,” he says. “The reason for that is the nature of the metal. Buy a new cast-iron burner and it starts rusting tonight.” If that testimony doesn’t swing you, also note that cast-iron barbecue burners are more expensive to replace and harder to find.

The most popular burner material is stainless steel, which can be formed into a multitude of shapes, and is best able to resist the high temperatures inside a gas grill and fend off the corrosion caused by moisture and food acids. But any metal, even stainless steel, is adversely affected when subjected to constant high temperatures. “It literally starts to change the metal,” explains Dixon, “and at some point even stainless steel is no longer stainless steel and it begins to rust. But it is the best material to use in the interim to resist the cancer that is eventually going to come.” He says the average stainless-steel burner with a five-year warranty will last four to five years, and a model with a 10-year warranty will last 8–12 years. “It’s not that the burners are any better,” he says of the longer-lasting models, “it’s how they end up being protected by the heat-distribution system.”

Once you've got it, spread it around

Ah, the heat-distribution system. What used to simply be a pile of lava rocks is now right at the core of what separates a good barbecue from a disappointment. According to our experts, rock-based systems are uncommon these days, even on bargain-basement units. Other systems employ either a series of inverted V-shaped bars or ceramic rods or a cast-iron plate to absorb and retain heat and direct that heat to the cooking surface. But that’s just part of the diffuser’s job. It should also vaporize fat drippings and juices, sending lovely smoke back up to the food, and direct excess drippings away from the burners to some sort of grease collector. Well-designed systems are those that best protect the burner from corrosive food acids. Raichlen recommends ones with an easy grease evacuation system. “It should sound self-evident, but there are some really expensive grills on the market that are very hard, virtually impossible, to clean,” he says. “Which would only lead me to assume they were designed by engineers and not by people who have ever cooked on a barbecue.”

What’s best? All the systems can do a fine job if they are laid out well and provide shelter for the burners from the shower of grease raining down from above. Generally, the better the barbecue, the heavier the bars or plates will be. Heavier bars or plates, found on well-designed grills, will last longer and do a better job of maintaining heat. Finally, Raichlen advises barbecue buyers that diffusers should be positioned at least 8–10 cm below the cooking grate for best performance. “There are a couple of high-end grills I’ve seen where those diffusers are placed as close as 11⁄2" [4 cm] from the cooking grate, and that gives you very unnatural cooking,” he says. “Things either tend to burn or stay raw.”

BTU snafu

What’s that you say? All this talk about gas barbecues and not a word on British Thermal Units? That’s because in the hierarchy of things that are necessary for a well-seared steak or a leg of lamb cooked to perfection, BTUs are possibly the most confusing and misleading term in the barbecue biz. This pains me because while BTUs can be an important gauge of a grill’s heat output, they can also be absolutely meaningless. “A lot of people think that BTUs are a measure of the quality of a good grill, but that’s just not so,” observes Ron Shewchuk, barbecue evangelist and chief cook of Alberta- and BC-based Rockin’ Ronnie’s Butt Shredders barbecue team. (See Barbecue All-Star, this page.) “If you’ve got an efficiently designed grill, you don’t need a huge amount of energy to cook your food properly.”

The BTU count refers to the number of British Thermal Units that your barbecue consumes per hour on full power. That’s right – consumes – it does not refer to heat output. “So when you get those flyers that highlight BTUs as a lure to buy a lousy barbecue, beware,” says Waisglass at Sobie’s. “It can mean that you’re just buying a gas pig, not necessarily a hot barbecue.” Generally speaking, most manufacturers of good grills properly match the BTU consumption to the size of the grill, but there are a couple of tricks you can use to cut through the BTU BS that does exist. One is to compare two models of the same brand. If one model has a larger cooking area but the same BTU count as the smaller version, it’s a warning sign. Or try comparing two brands in the same price range. If you look at two barbecues with the same cooking area and one has a BTU count that’s far lower than the other, it’s time to start asking questions. I own a gas barbecue that is lovely in every way except for the fact that it can’t sear worth beans. It seems to me that the manufacturer intentionally limited the BTU count, and therefore the heat output, so the burners would last longer. I have also cooked on barbecues with cheap, poorly laid-out components and a very high BTU count that performed with equally dismal results. They roar a lot, but not much heat makes it to the food. It’s a bit of a mug’s game but, generally speaking, if a grill has a poorly shaped burner and a cheap heat-distribution scheme, coupled with a high BTU count, it might be posing as something it ain’t.

The truth behind bars

Okay, you’ve got a good burner with lots of heat and a well-designed heat diffuser. Now it’s time to slap a few bison paillards on the barbie. For that, you want a good cooking surface, one with lots of mass to absorb the heat from the burners and transfer it into your food for that perfect sear. A heavier cooking grate will initially retain heat better and return to that temperature more quickly after you’ve heaved a raw veal chop on top of it.

Cooking grates are commonly made of nickel-plated steel, porcelain-coated steel, stainless steel, porcelain-coated cast iron, or raw cast iron. Nickel-plated grates are the cheapest and lightest and will quickly corrode, while porcelain-coated steel is universally panned by our barbecue experts for its tendency to stick to almost any food – even though it is touted as a no-stick surface.

That leaves three choices and they’re all good ones. Cast iron (raw and porcelain-coated) and stainless steel, with a few caveats. Personally, I prefer raw cast iron, the choice of restaurant kitchens for centuries. It’s old school, a near-perfect heat sink, and cannot be beat for its ability to lay on those beautiful grill marks. “I do like cast-iron grates, but they require more maintenance than stainless steel,” says Reader. “If they are exposed to moisture, they will rust if you don’t clean them regularly and keep them oiled.” Oddly enough, I’ve never had a problem with corrosion on cast-iron grates, though I’ve seen plenty that have gone to seed. Turns out, it might just be my own laziness and lack of hygiene that’s kept the rust at bay. “The secret is that when you’re done cooking, turn your barbecue off and leave the grease on it to protect the grate until the next time you cook,” explains Dixon. “The next time you cook, just preheat the grate and give it a brushing. Some people burn off the grate when they’re done cooking, which leaves it dry and susceptible to moisture.” Who knew? Some cast-iron grates are porcelain-coated as a hedge against rust, but the coated versions still seem stickier than the raw and, as Joel Waisglass points out, the coating often chips, which exposes the raw cast iron underneath anyway.

Stainless-steel grates address the corrosion problem and can come close to the performance you get from a cast-iron grate if they are built heavily enough. Both Raichlen and Reader like stainless-steel grates as long as they are made from 50 mm or heavier rod, not lightweight extrusions. And as Dixon explains, stainless steel is tough enough to stand up to abusive cleaning. “You can be as aggressive as you want with a scraper or a brush and you won’t hurt it.” And if that isn’t clean enough for you, get a load of this news from Waisglass, who says more and more people want a stainless-steel grate so they can sanitize it in the dishwasher. Perhaps sensing my arched eyebrows, he adds: “People are funny.”

Thinking outside the box

I’ve seen it a dozen times. A group of guys standing around and admiring a gleaming stainless-steel grill, oohing and aahing, and saying “Wow! That’s one heckuva nice barbecue!” They have never peered inside to check out its burners or heat diffuser, and the cooking grates could be made from clothes-hanger wire. They’ve certainly never cooked on the thing, but still feel assured it’s a fantastic grill based on looks alone. And there’s the rub: The material that makes up a barbecue’s box and body has very little to do with the way it performs. Most grill boxes are still made from cast aluminum, the standard black powder-coated metal that has proven itself over the years. More expensive models might have brightly coloured enamelled-steel bodies with cast-aluminum end caps or, at the high end of the market, be constructed from stainless steel from bottom to top. “The primary attraction of stainless steel is looks,” says Dixon. “There’s a trend toward stainless and it’s consumer-driven. If one manufacturer does it and they have tremendous consumer acceptance, then other manufacturers will follow suit.” If you like the look of stainless steel and are willing to pay a premium to get it, fine, but don’t think for a minute that it will cook your food any better than humble cast aluminum which, it could be argued, might even retain heat better than stainless- or enamelled-steel bodies. “I use this 30-year-old West Bend grill and I love it because it has a very heavy cast-aluminum cover,” says Shewchuk. “I don’t think some enamelled-steel grills hold the heat as well.” Joel Waisglass puts things in perspective. “There are different price points and stainless steel tends to run the price up,” he explains, “but it’s a selling point.”

Spit-roasting and side burners

We’re down to options now, and one popular grill addition is a side burner, a feature Joel Waisglass loves because it lets him take all cooking chores outdoors. But side burners do add a premium to the cost of a grill, so think hard about your own cooking habits before you shell out. Personally, I have no use for a side burner, a sentiment echoed by Ted Reader ("I hate side burners, can’t stand them. I think they are a waste of a part of a grill”) and Steven Raichlen (“I would say a side burner is the least important feature on a grill”). That said, off-grid cottagers, or anyone who suffers the vagaries of Hydro One service in cottage country, might appreciate a backup burner when the power goes out.

A rear rotisserie burner, on the other hand, was a feature everyone could agree on, for its ability to consistently produce crisp-skinned, succulent chicken and roasts with a minimum of fuss or cooking expertise. “The heat comes from the rear so you don’t get any fires or flare-ups,” says Dixon. “Close the lid, go golfing, have sex – dinner’s done.” Though gaining in popularity, there still seems to be some timidity by consumers when it comes to spit roasting, something Reader has observed. “People are shy about rotisseries. They’re afraid of the apparatus set-up. But once you do it, it gets easier and easier, and you can produce tender, juicy, absolutely wonderful food. I love them.”

Not all rotisserie set-ups are created equal, however. On better barbecues, the burners and the brackets that hold the motor and spit are thoughtfully designed; others look like bolted-on afterthoughts. Look for rear burners that do not intrude into the main cooking area (some are even easily removable) and brackets that do not impede other parts of the grill (some set-ups actually prevent you from installing a warming rack when the brackets are attached). Above all, avoid “universal” rotisseries that claim to fit any barbecue (they never do); better to look to a grill manufacturer that designs the rotisserie apparatus right into the barbecue.

This story is all about a gas grill’s core features, those heart-and-soul elements that actually make a difference to the vittles that roll off your barbecue. Of course, there are plenty of other fancy features available to the grill-buying public, from drink holders and battery-powered lights, to integral thermometers, proprietary ignition systems, warming drawers, cutting boards, storage cabinets, and special hooks for hanging your tongs. If you really want these features, fill your boots, but remember that they’re all about personal preference, convenience, and style – they make no difference whatsoever to the good stuff you’re cooking. The next time you’re down on the shop floor hunting for a new gas grill, keep some of this expert testimony in mind and your chances of picking a real performer – and maybe saving a few bucks along the way – are pretty good. Bon appétit. 

 

A former editor of Cottage Life, David Zimmer says his oldest memories involve a 1950s brazier-style grill spilling hot charcoal over a suburban patio.

 

Published in the June 2004 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2004 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.